Meet Me in the Middle
by Darthlane
Summary: Sokka doesn't know why Suki is avoiding him. One shot. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.


**For the 7** **th** **round of the Pro bending Circuit**

 **Prompts:**

 **Suki**

 **Mystery**

 **Title- "Meet Me in the Middle"**

 **Words count: 1625**

Meet Me in the Middle

Sokka couldn't understand what was going on. Things weren't right, something was just off. But he had asked Aang, Toph, and even Katara if something was up, and everything seemed normal to them. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but Sokka knew the truth. He had survived this long because of his warrior's instincts, and they hadn't let him down yet.

Something was wrong with Suki.

It had been seven years since Aang had defeated Fire Lord Ozai, the Fire Nation armies had surrendered, and Zuko had taken over as Fire Lord. Seven years that had been among the happiest of Sokka's life, as his love with Suki flourished, and began putting the world back together alongside his friends.

But then a week ago Suki came home to their place in Ba Sing Se, and he opened his arms for an embrace like they would normally do, and she just glanced at him, then looked away and walked right past him. She refused to give more than one word answers to questions, and Sokka felt that it would be best not to push the issue with her.

The day ended, and still nothing had been discussed. Suki continued to avoid him, and Sokka didn't know what to do but wait for things to start to get better. But it was a week later and nothing had changed.

Sokka wouldn't be exaggerating to tell that this was worrying him to death. He and Suki had fought plenty of times certainly, but Sokka had never seen anything like this from her. And the part of this that was tearing his mind apart most was that he couldn't think of any reason why she would be angry with him. Things had been good. More than good, actually. In fact, Sokka had been thinking about proposing soon. He had been as certain as humanly possible that the future was bright for them, that this was the person he wanted to be with.

But now, who knew?

Being a renowned detective, Sokka looked for clues as to why she was like this right now. As hard as he searched and detectived, he couldn't come up with any answers.

He had tried getting advice from his friends, starting with Aang. Wisdom couldn't get any better than from the Avatar, right? The guy was raised by monks after all.

"You just need to be patient." Aang had told him. "Whatever it is, she will tell you eventually. Then just try to be understanding about the problem, whatever it may be." Sokka didn't come away from that feeling any clearer about all of this.

So next he tried Toph. "Eh, just ignore it." The cranky Earthbender said. "She will get over it in time. Just concentrate on other stuff until she does. Also, be yourself. She fell in love with you for a reason, so use that." Again Sokka was dissatisfied. It wasn't that their advice wasn't good, but it was just something he couldn't do. He had to be doing something about this, he had to act somehow.

So desperate times called for desperate measures. He sent a message with Hawky to Fire Lord Zuko, and promptly got a reply the next day. Sokka was immensely relieved and pleasantly surprised to get an answer so soon. Zuko was very busying running an entire country, but evidently put his friends as a very high priority. Sokka was grateful to have a friend like that.

 _Dear Sokka,_

 _I'm sorry to hear about the problems you and Suki are going through. That's rough, buddy. I don't really have much I can tell you that I know will help. But maybe something I say can spark a fire in your mind. You're a pretty smart guy. I'd say the best way to go about this would be to ask her what the problem is, and try to work through it. Uncle Iroh has been telling me for a long time that I need to investigate the world, see how things work and why the world is the way that it is. And supposedly that understanding will help me. This is kind of the same thing. You will save yourself a lot of time and paranoia if you confront this and find out what the issue is with her. Then, once you know what the problem is, do everything you can to fix it. I know you love her, and I know you will do anything to keep her. Do what you need to, man. Best of luck._

 _The Lord of the Nation of Fire,_

 _Zuko_

Amazingly, Sokka actually felt better after that advice. Ask her about what the problem is so that they could work through it. That was genius! He just wished he had been able to think of it himself.

"No, buddy. You are the smart one." Sokka said with a smile. Thankfully, this meant he wouldn't need to approach Katara for advice now. He was already horrified at the thought of what kind of "relationship advice" she would push on him with her womanly intuition and people skills. Sokka didn't have the heart to break it to her that she did not in fact have those.

So that was when he approached her at home to confront the problem like Zuko had said. She had been sitting down, going over one of her fans, making sure every inch was pristine. He sat down opposite of her at the table. She made a point to look away from him.

"Suki, I-" he began before she cut him off.

"No. Just don't say anything."

"What is the problem?"

"Just leave me alone right now, Sokka." She told him, standing up to walk away. "I don't want to talk to you." She left to their room. Sokka hadn't really been allowed in for a few days now, being forced to sleep on the couch.

But he wasn't going to give up so easy. He followed her and slipped in the room behind her.

She glared. "Get out. Now."

Sokka shook his head. "We need to talk about this. Whatever it is."

"There is nothing to talk about." She said darkly. Sokka could tell she was lying. "Fine. If you won't leave, then I will."

Sokka shook his head, blocking the door. "We need to talk."

Suki's eyes narrowed. "You know I could remove you easily, right?"

"But will you?" Sokka asked softly.

She sighed. "Please just drop this. This isn't going to lead anywhere good."

He sat down on the bed next to her, putting an arm on her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn't pull away. "What is going on?"

"I found out." She said simply.

"Found out about what?" he asked, still confused.

"I found out about her."

"Her?" He had no idea who Suki could be talking about. He had never cheated on her or anything like that. And he didn't really know that many girls, besides Toph, Ty Lee, Mai, and a couple of others. And Katara, of course.

"The Water Tribe girl." She said, venom in her voice.

"Oh." Sokka said slapping his forehead. Now it all made sense. "You mean Yue."

"Yes." Suki said. "Her."

There was still something missing here. Why exactly would she be mad about that? It had been many years since Yue had left him. Honestly, he could hardly recall her face. "Suki, what is the issue with her?"

"You never told me." She said, and Sokka realized that she was crying. "You hid this from me. Do you not trust me? Why would you hide her?"

Sokka answered quickly. "I never thought that it mattered for us. It was always about you and me, I don't want anything or anyone coming between us."

Suki sighed. "Don't you get it? I don't want part of you, Sokka. I have always wanted all of you. But you aren't giving me that. You haven't been giving me everything about you."

"Yue doesn't matter. It's you that I'm with, isn't it?" Sokka asked her.

"Then tell me, if she hadn't died, if you and her had stayed together, would you still be with me now?"

Sokka closed his eyes. "I don't know. I don't know if I would have been with her, or if I would have still ended up with you, or if something else might have happened. I just don't know."

"Then how can you-" She stopped when Sokka held up a finger.

"I don't know what might have happened, Suki. But I do know what did happen. I am with you. Not Yue. Not anyone else. Just you, Suki. I. Love. You. And I wouldn't want in any other way."

She closed her eyes for a moment, which caused Sokka to worry a bit. Would she leave him because of this? Then she laughed and held him close. "I love you too, Sokka." Then she kissed him passionately.

They kept up the kiss for what felt like both forever and less than an instant. Sokka was in bliss, never wanting it to end. But, unfortunately, they were human and needed to breathe eventually. When they finally separated, Sokka came to a decision then and there.

Suki gasped when he slipped off of the bed and onto one knee. Sokka took her hand into his, looking deeply into her beautiful eyes and said, "I've joked a lot in my life. Heck, I've considered myself in my head to be just about eating meat and sarcasm. But I am not joking now when I tell you that I love you. that I want to spend forever with you, or until my last day. Whichever comes last. What I'm saying is, Suki, will you marry me?"

 **I know, I know, I'm evil for leaving it open ended. But that means you get to decide what Suki's answer was. Thanks for reading! *insert shameless self-promotion here***


End file.
